Minister's Moment: Lying Behavior

Written by BY Ken Sipley
Friday, 04 March 2011 17:37

Lying Behavior1 John 1:5-10

Several years ago, when I was at a low ebb professionally and looking for something to recharge my batteries as a teacher, I was exposed to behavior modification, a method of dealing with people based on positive reinforcement. Simply put, behaviorists believe that the best learning occurs in situations where the teacher’s interaction with students is 80 percent positive and 20 percent negative. There are more concepts, but this is the basic one. I became an instant convert. I am a behaviorist.One phrase behaviorists use is “lying behavior.” Lying behavior occurs when we say one thing but do another. I may say I want to lose weight, but if I have a cheeseburger and fries for lunch three times a week—that’s lying behavior. My actions are more telling than my words.